Renfaire observations

[Benning Boy]

Sunday the wife and I went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. She had never been before and the last time I went was way back in the last century.

A few observations on kilts. First, I saw no one attempting the great kilt look, and am glad for it. From everything I read here it isn't usually carried off well. I did see a vendor in a McClaren tartan kilt probably from Stillwater, as I have one like it. However he was wearing a leather bonnet and lots of fantasy items. I don't know what era he expected to represent but it must be one the earth has not seen yet. Another chap girded his loins in a Sportkilt, again with lots of fantasy dodads dangling from his belt and a black pirate shirt. His kilt was worn sagging like a teenager's jeans and below the knees. Like wise a second was seen in some sort of box pleat kilt sagging and below the knees, it above some swashbuckler's boots. To me the funniest look was that of a youngish grown man of small stature with a child in hand. His fresh lookong Black Watch kilt, although worn at the waist, reached well below his knees giving it a true skirt look. The fell extend way below his butt. No doubt his kilt was a ready made acrylic with the usual 24-inch drop.

As we all know our modern made kilts weren't to be found in the Renaissance, which no doubt leads many to embrace the fantasy look with mixed attire and ornamentation. I think it would be nice if some at least tried to be authentic in their dress as it would be a more attractive look than the hodge podge all at the fest embraced.

As for me imade no effort to appear Renaissance-ish. Instead it was my new Chattahoochee kilt by Barb T., a pilot shirt and hose in a matching shade of blue, and a gray bonnet from Historical Caps. Normally I would have gone bare headed, but I'm growing my hair out long and right now it is too short for a pony tail but long enough to be a nuisance so bonnets are of growing importance. If i do say so myself i was one of the best dressed in the entire throng and certainly the best turned out kiltoid on the grounds. A trans man cum woman seemed to take a bit more interest than any one else. Something was working.

Kilting at Renfests is a popular activity however to me me if the kilts were worn properly, even if the be great kilts they would lend more color to the affair than those worn like rags. That to me is especially true for brothers of the Rabble. We know better. Please show it.

[EagleJCS]

I've only been to one Ren-Faire site in person, but have read about and seen pictures and video of many others.

It appears that most these days are actually "dress up fantasy" festivals than 'Renaissance' festivals and no one takes themselves nor adherence to the actual historical period seriously. It's more an amalgam of different places, periods, Hollywood and reality. People dressing up in costume and playacting.

Waaayyy back when I first started to hear about such things, it was difficult to get details (pre-internet). There are/were some few that actually have a 'cast' that DO attempt to be historically accurate in their clothing, speech and mannerisms. They'll advertise themselves as such.

[OC Richard]

At our local main Ren Faire one sees a spectrum of things.

Remembering that our Faire is a Child Of The 1960s, a certain sort of dress has long been the most-seen look: a blend between Renaissance peasant clothes and Hippie dress. (One for sure comes away with the notion that a certain leafy plant was widespread in Elizabethan England.)

There are many people, perhaps numbering in the hundreds, who take historical costuming very seriously at our local Faire.

Then there are the people with elaborate costumes but they're a bit on the fantasy side of things.

It's long been a popular thing for local teens and College kids to do, get together a big group in thrown-together costumes and go to the Faire for a day of fun (and drinking for those old enough).

Also are the large number people who treat the Faire as a Fancy Dress (as the British call it) occasion, the "anything goes" people.

And at least half the people are just in normal clothes.

This translates into the range of Highland Dress one sees.

We have a local group who wear the Highland Dress of the period, as accurately as they can get it. They're serious about their research, they've read all the sources. What they don't have, as far as I know, is someone really knowledgeable about early tartans. They do have a rule that recognisable modern clan tartans can't be used. Rather, they find tartanlike plaids.

Next comes the fantasy people, often wearing Ren-like doublets and shirts but with Utilikilts.

Of course there are going to be people who are in the ever-present and large camp that apparently views Highland Dress as existing outside of the linear progress of time (as if they're travelling about in the TARDIS) who wear their same modern kilt and 20th century sporran to the Ren Faire, the Dickens Fair, the Victorian Ball, the Civil War Ball, and indeed any historically-themed even they attend.

While some of the above are dressing up in costume, others are in the "ordinary clothes" camp, people who wear traditional Highland Dress regularly, and who wear Utilikilts regularly. These people aren't dressing up in period costume but wearing ordinary modern clothing, and one should no more expect them to be period-accurate than the people in t-shirts and blue jeans.

[derosa]

Not everyone's there to dress up and show off; I wore my Muir box pleat with sandels and a pirate like shirt to the last one. I wore the kilt properly but that's good enough for me, I'm there to show my kids a good time, have fun and be amused. I'd like a proper set of the boots but don't have the hundreds to spend on a pair of boots that will be worn once to twice a year when I have so many other considerations for the same money that would be put to better use. I could try for a better shirt but the one I have was the costume of the time 20 years ago when I worked there and if I bought a different one I'd never wear the one I have. Next year I'll buy a better belt as that is cheap enough but really, everyone you described, beats the person who shows up because someone dragged them along and they either are busy drinking as they don't want to be there or are being grumpy and judgemental because they don't want to be there. As long as you had fun and they did to then everyone can walk away happy.

[OC Richard]

Our local group is called Clan MacColin.

They're trying to be as accurate as possible, in a period about which we just don't have much information.

They're postulating a period where Irish and Highland costume wasn't as differentiated as they later became due to the conquest of Ireland which caused the disappearance of traditional Irish costume, and the subsequent evolutionary drift of the costume in the Highlands.

So, it's leine and ionar for both Irish and Highland costume. The main difference is whether the mantle is the brat or the feileadh-mor.



I went one step further with a costume I used to wear at Faire back in my college days: I made a mantle that could function either as a brat (cloak) or feileadh-mor, patterned tweed, not quite tartan, with fur trim all around, the missing link so to speak.

[llyd]

My renfaire gear is anything but "correct" an acrylic great kilt in Royal Stewart with calf high (and stupid comfortable) peasant boots is not really fitting in any time period.
But that isn't the point....the point is to have fun with it.

Really...if one wants to be "correct" about 98 percent of those in costume ought to be dressed several paygrades lower...not everybody can be a Clan Chief...The same issue exists in the SCA...

[Powermac]

First, I saw no one attempting the great kilt look, and am glad for it. From everything I read here it isn't usually carried off well.

What's the general feeling about the great kilt? My mom watches Outlander, and I have to admit I like the look, but it's absolutely not practical for 21st century attire. That doesn't stop me from wanting to give it a go at some point; I just don't know when I'd do it. Seems a bit much for mowing the lawn or cleaning the house. If one were to attempt it, how would one go about carrying it off well? And if not at a Ren Faire (which yes, the one around here seems to have heavy fantasy elements from the pictures I've seen) when could one pull it off (or belt it on, as it were)?

[Tobus]

What's the general feeling about the great kilt? My mom watches Outlander, and I have to admit I like the look, but it's absolutely not practical for 21st century attire. That doesn't stop me from wanting to give it a go at some point; I just don't know when I'd do it. Seems a bit much for mowing the lawn or cleaning the house. If one were to attempt it, how would one go about carrying it off well? And if not at a Ren Faire (which yes, the one around here seems to have heavy fantasy elements from the pictures I've seen) when could one pull it off (or belt it on, as it were)?

The unpopular but truthful answer: I can't think of anywhere that a great kilt could be worn today without it being seen as a ridiculous bit of costumery. Sorry, that's probably not the answer you were looking for. It would fit right in at the Ren Faire or similar venues where over-the-top outfits are expected and celebrated, but outside of that, there isn't any pulling it off. A great kilt even looks ridiculous at a modern Highland Games and clan gathering.

It's pretty much the sartorial equivalent of wearing a toga. People recognize it, and can generally place it in its historical context, but trying to make it work outside of a reenactment context just borders on the absurd.

[Benning Boy]

I guess one of the things I noticed is that the fantasy crowd seemed no more involved in the festival than the casual visitors in their tee shirts and clown pants and the like. Those with ears masked by pointy elf ear appendages, and animal tails dangling behind milled around the same as the rest of us browsing the shops and eateries.

I guess for me it would have been more interesting if the costumed folks had been more in character. Being a kilter I would like to have seen kilts better represented. The last time I attend the KC fest was in 1993 and a great many of the costumed crowd were trying to stay in character and speaking in Shakespearean English then. I do rember one kilted entertainer in a modern kilt but with a long tailed period correct shirt that could be seen beneath his kilt as he danced vigorously. He wore a proper Scotch bonnet. There was no one even attempting that basic sort of rough authenticity this year, which is why I was so disappointed with what I saw.

I wore my kilt as I do everyday and was making no attempt to be historically correct, but although not representing kilt wear of yesteryear was more honestly attired than the rag tag pretenders. I think wearing a kilt in a manner appropriate for any chosen era would be far more interesting aspect of the faires than a shabby fantasy hodgepodge.

I encourage kilted brothers here to eschew the fantasy and embrace authenticity. You'll make a far more interesting impression than those who wear little more than a shower wrap and leather.

[Wareyin]

In my experience at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, I have no idea why anyone would think that is a place to go for authenticity. The vendors, the products, and the ads all make it quite clear that this is just dressing up for fun, not an educational experience. I don't think root beer floats or giant turkey legs were enjoyed by many Europeans in the Renaissance, for instance!